Magic is alive and well in the world, inside beings known as Majiks. By completing a Majik's trial, a Witch can gain its power. However, only women can become Witches or use magical items. All that changes one day when a young man named Ichi turns the world on its head by defeating an infamous Majik and gaining its magical powers!

Ichi is a reclusive hunter who knows nothing of Witches and Majiks, but he does have a particular obsession for hunting anything that exudes bloodlust. When that instinct leads him to interfere in a battle between the great Witch Desscaras and the horrifying King Majik Uroro, against all odds, he acquires the destructive magic of Uroro, making him the only male Witch in the entire world! And not even Desscaras herself is prepared for the absolute headache that wild child Ichi is about to give her.

Ichi the Witch has a story by Osamu Nishi and art by Shiro Usazaki. English translation is done by Adrienne Beck, and lettering by John Hunt. Published by Viz Media (February 3, 2026). Rated T.

Caitlin Moore
Rating:

I'm so glad to see Shiro Usazaki getting work! When act-age was unceremoniously cancelled due to the writer Tatsuya Matsuki's conviction for sexual assault, it made me sad to see a talented young artist's career affected by her collaborator's bad choices. While the cancellation was justified, I hoped Usazaki would land on her feet.

And now she's back, drawing for Weekly Shonen Jump once again, this time paired up with veteran writer Osamu Nishi, best known for Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun!, forming the only all-female manga team currently at Jump. Knowing only that going in, I was a bit surprised that Ichi the Witch's gender politics are a touch… fraught. After spending his childhood as an orphan living off the land, Ichi becomes the first male witch after defeating King Uroro, a majik who is resistant to the powers of women. Now, thanks to his background as a hunter and his unconventional path to witchhood, he's the coolest, specialest witch around. I could grin and bear it if it were just about his hunting background, but then he puts on a pair of boots that could make a normal witch capable of jumping six feet, and starts jumping over buildings. Sigh.

Except, I still gave it a pretty high rating! Why is that, if I felt so frustrated by Ichi being given special treatment for being a boy witch, which automatically makes him stronger than all those girl witches? Well, because other than that, I cannot deny that Ichi the Witch is a ton of fun to read! It's exactly the kind of series I'd recommend to a 12-year-old, energetic and silly, with a great balance of action and silly humor. Ichi, Desscarass, and Uroro all have strong personalities that crash into each other as they reluctantly work together. As of this first volume, the plot is only getting started, but it's the perfect setup for a classic action-adventure tale.

Plus, Usazaki's art is just gorgeous. The intricacy of the witches' costumes contrasts with Ichi's basic hunter's garb, but nothing ever feels over-designed or slathered in nonsensical details. The bold lines and clear poses make the action easy to read, and the characters' expressiveness really sells the goofiness of the comedy bits. As for more emotional moments… well, we're not there yet. Maybe we'll never get there. Maybe this just isn't that kind of manga. Either way, it's a good time.

Bolts
Rating:

Ok, so what if we had a witch… but he was a boy!? Yeah, we're really breaking new ground with this one, right!? I won't lie, I did roll my eyes a little when I read the initial premise of the series because it felt like it was setting itself up to be a standard shounen series utilizing witch magic as the main gimmick. After reading the first volume, I can say with absolute certainty…that's exactly what this is, but I was wrong in thinking I would be bored. There is something very unapologetically straightforward and passionate about Ichi the Witch. This is a story that I feel like I've seen a dozen times before, but it manages to strike the perfect balance of being cheeky without coming off like a total farce or parody.

Ichi, a young boy who grew up for the love of the hunt, due to unforeseen circumstances, becomes one of the first male witches in the land. The first volume is all about establishing this new status quo for him, world-building revolving around how the witches' society wants to deal with him, and going into the specific ways that magic works in this world. Despite all that, the exposition never came off as boring because of the way that it was presented. Backstory and set up is always told from the perspective of characters that are always trying to add this little bit of flavor text to what is going on. Everyone in this story feels just a little bit crazy and unhinged, which is perfect because that keeps things fresh and unpredictable at times.

Our main character isn't an idiot; he just blatantly only cares about one or two things, but the fact that he tries to frame all of these new experiences through that hunting lens is what's interesting. His handler is an incredibly vain woman who always acts like she doesn't care about the situation and tries to make everything about her, but that vanity constantly gets punished. There's even a little bit of commentary on how an unchecked mystic society would have to be run by a couple of crazy people. I can see why this series has gotten a lot of popularity recently because I think it fills a hole that is starting to get left by a lot of major shonen series ending.

The characters are likable in an unhinged way, the pacing is solid, and the way that information is delivered has the right amount of self-awareness to it. Plus, the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Almost all the women in this series look completely different from each other, and the expression work done with our main character is absolutely top-notch. Seeing him go from wide-eyed to killer instinct off the drop of a hat over all of these new stimuli is a joy to watch, and the way that the story portrays magic itself is fairly interesting. Is something that does have a strong ebb and flow to it. It's also present in a way that can yield multiple directions for potential conflict in the future. This genuinely surprised me and has a bright future ahead of it. I feel you should give it a read if you're looking to fill that void.